Actuator rod connector

ABSTRACT

A pivoted lever member having an aperture at one end, an elongated substantially L-shaped actuating rod for swinging the lever member, and an integrally molded plastic connecting device for coupling the actuating rod to the apertured end of the lever member. The connecting device comprises a base member having an actuating rod receiving aperture at one end and cylindrical retention means insertable through the lever member aperture for holding the connecting means on the latter. The cylindrical retention means projects from the apertured end of the base member and has a bore axially aligned with the aperture adapted to receive a short leg of the L-shaped actuating rod. The base member has spaced upstanding side walls adapted to receive a long leg of the L-shaped actuating rod therebetween. The side walls of the base member terminate in opposed retention flanges having a space therebetween less than the thickness of the actuating rod whereby the long leg of the L-shaped rod must be forced between the retention flanges as its short leg is inserted into the cylindrical means bore for a permanent connection to be made. Coating retention means on the long leg of the actuating rod are engageable by the retention flanges to inhibit separation of the actuating rod from the connecting device.

United States Patent 51 Oct. 3', 1972 Ratnikas [54] ACTUATOR RODCONNECTOR [72] Inventor: Jonas Ratnikas, Dearbom, Mich.

[73] Assignee: Ford Motor Company, Dearborn,

Mich.

[22] Filed: Oct. 21, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 191,268

[52] US. Cl ..287/93, 287/205 [51] Int. Cl. ..F16c 11/00 [58] Field ofSearch ..287/93, 20.5 R

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,231,300 l/l966 Moroney..287/93 3,253,480 5/1966 Femberg ..287/93 X 3,401,960 9/1968 Saunders..287/20.5 R

Primary Examiner-Andrew V. Kundrat Att0rneyKeith L. Zerschling and JohnJ. Roethel 57 ABSTRACT A pivoted lever member having an aperture at oneend, an elongated substantially L-shaped actuating rod for swinging thelever member, and an integrally molded plastic connecting device forcoupling the actuating rod to the apertured end of the lever member.

The connecting device comprises a base member having an actuating rodreceiving aperture at one end and cylindrical retention means insertablethrough the lever member aperture for holding the connecting means onthe latter. The cylindrical retention means projects from the aperturedend of the base member and has a bore axially aligned with the apertureadapted to receive a short leg of the L-shaped actuating rod. The basemember has spaced upstanding side walls adapted to receive a long leg ofthe L-shaped actuating rod therebetween. The side walls of the basemember terminate in opposed retention flanges having a spacetherebetween less than the thickness of the ac tuating rod whereby thelong leg of the L-shaped rod must be forced between the retentionflanges as its short leg is inserted into the cylindrical means bore fora permanent connection to be made. Coating retention means on the longleg of the actuating rod are engageable by the retention flanges toinhibit separation of the actuating rod from the connecting device.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures -PMENTEMMIM' I 3.695.652

] INVENTOR.

' JZ/Z/f Fain/X41;

ACTUATOR ROD CONNECTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present inventionrepresents an improvement over a Connecting Means disclosed in US. Pat.No. 3,231,300 issued Jan. 25, 1966 to W. vN. Moroney. The Moroney patentdiscloses a plastic connecting means in which the right angled end ofthe actuating rod is pushed through an aperture in the device andretained in a cylindrically-shaped recess in a head portion of thelatter. A retention recess receives the actuating rod at the juncture ofthe main rod portion with its right angled end portions. Since thisjuncture is a curved corner, only a small portion of the recess wallsare engaged by the actuating rod and much of the retention strength iswasted.

U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 145,680 filed May 21, 1971, by Donald R.Hoffmann for Rod End Connector was an attempt to achieve the quicksingle motion assembly of the Moroney connecting device while at thesame time achieving greater resistance to separation of the actuatingrod from the lever member. It has been found, however, that even withthe modification of the structure disclosed by Hoffmann, the actuatingrods on occasion have a tendency to slip out of the connecting device.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide morepositive retention of the actuating rod to the lever member than isafforded by Hoffmann while retaining the single motion assembly of theMoroney connecting device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to thecombination of a pivoted lever member having an aperture at one end,

an elongated substantially L-shaped actuating rod for swinging the levermember in a predetermined plane, and a connecting device for couplingthe actuating rod to the apertured end of the lever member.

The long leg of the Lshaped actuating rod is substantially parallel tothe plane of swinging movement of the lever member and the short leg ofthe L-shaped actuating rod is adapted to project through the aperture inthe lever member. The connecting device for holding the actuating rod inoperative relationship to the lever member is an integrally moldedplastic unit having a short flat base member with an aperture at oneend. A substantially cylindrical retention means projects from theapertured end of the base member and has a bore therethrough axiallyaligned with the base member aperture. The cylindrical retention meanscomprises a reduced shank portion having a diameter complementary to thelever member aperture and a compressible tapered shoulder portionslightly larger in cross sectional area than the shank portion. Thetapered shoulder portion is compressible to a size at which it will passthrough the lever member aperture. Upon the shoulder portion beingprojected through the lever member aperture, it is adapted to expand toprevent subsequent disconnection of the connection device from the levermember.

The base member has based upstanding side walls adapted to receive thelong leg of the L-shaped actuating rod therebetween. The side wallsterminate in opposed or inwardly turned retention flanges having a spacetherebetween less than the thickness of the actuating rod whereby thelong leg of the L-shaped rod must be forced between the retentionflanges as its short leg is inserted into the cylindrical means bore.The long leg of the actuating rod has coacting retention means which isengageablewith the retention flanges to further inhibit separation ofthe actuating rod from the connecting device. j 1 t The retention meanson the actuating rod comprises a non-circular.formedsection which may bea flat surface, an elongated V-shaped depression or an elongateddepression having a concave cross section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Further features and advantages of thepresent invention will be explained in greater detail making referenceto the description which now follows, reference being had to thedrawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, in part sectional, of the end of anactuating rod in operative relationship to a lever member and held insuch relationship by a connector device embodying the present invention;

FIG 2 is a vertical section view on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section view in part similar to FIG. 2 illustrating a secondembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is asection view substantially similar to FIG. 2 illustratinganother embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawing, FIG.1 illustrates, in combination, a fragmentary portion of a pivoted levermember 11, an elongated substantially L-shaped actuating rod 12 forswinging the lever member in a predetermined plane, and a connectingdevice 13 for coupling the actuating rod 12 to the lever member 1 1.

Reference may be made to FIG. 1 of E. G. Trudeau, US. Pat. No.3,312,489, issued Apr. 4, 1967, entitled Door Latch Mechanism for atypical actuating rodlever member connection of the type to which thepresent invention is applicable.

The actuating rod 12 terminates at its end adapted to be coupled to thelever member 11 at a substantially L- shaped end section. The long leg14 of the end section substantially parallels the plane of swingingmovement of the lever member 11. The short leg 15 is at substantially aright angle to the long leg 14 for axial alignment with an aperture 16in the lever member 1 l.

The connecting device 13 is an integrally molded plastic unit having ashort flat base member 17 with an aperture 18 at one end. Asubstantially cylindrical retention means 19 projects from the aperture18 and the base member 17, the cylindrical retention means 49 having abore 21 therethrough axially aligned with the base member aperture 18and therefore the lever member aperture, 16. The cylindrical retentionmeans comprises a reduced shank portion 22 having a diametercomplementary to the lever member aperture 16 and a compressible taperedshoulder portion 23 slightly larger in cross sectional area than theshank portion. The tapered shoulder portion 23 is compressible to a sizeat which it will pass through the lever member aperture 16. Tofacilitate the compressibility of the cylindrical extension taperedshoulder portion 23, it

may be provided with a slot 24 extending toward the base member as shownin the aforementioned Hoffmann application Ser. No. 145,680. The basemember 17 has spaced upstanding side walls 25 and 26 adapted to receivethe long leg 14 of the L-shaped actuating rod 12 therebetween. The sidewalls 25 and 26 terminate in a tapered end wall 27, the tapered innersurface 28 of which forms a guide for leading the short leg 15 of theactuating-rod 12 into the aperture 18 in bore 21 of the connectingdevice 13.

The side walls 25 and 26 have at their upper edges opposed or inwardlyturned retention flanges 29 and 31 having a space 32 therebetween. Thespace 32 is less than the thickness of the actuating rod 12. The longleg 14 of the L-shaped actuating rod 12 thus must be forced between theretention flanges 29-31 through the space 32 if the short leg 15 is tobe inserted into the connecting device bore 21. To facilitate suchinsertion, the lead edges of the flanges 29 and 31 are chamfered as at33. The undersides of the flanges 29 and 31 are downwardly inclined atan angle of to to provide prong-like engagement with the upper surfaceof the long leg 14 of the rod 12 to resist separation movement of therod 12 from the connecting device 13.

To further inhibit withdrawal of the actuating rod 12 from theconnecting device 13, the upper surface of the long leg 14 of the rod 12is provided with a non-circular section 35 to underlie the elongatedprongs 34. The non-circular section 35 upper surface may comprise anyone of several shapes. As shown in FIG. 2, the surface may be flat. Asshown in FIG. 3, the upper surface may be formed as a shallow, elongateddepression 37 having a concave cross section and as seen in FIG. 4, itmay be a shallow, elongated V-shaped depression 38.

It thus will be readily apparent that the actuating rod may be assembledeasily and with a single motion to the connecting device 13 which ispreassembled to the lever member 1 1. Because of the overhangingretention flanges 29-31 and the withdrawal resisting prongs 34,inadvertent disengagement of the actuating rod 12 from the connectingdevice 13 and lever member 11 subassembly becomes most unlikely.Further, sufficient force must be exerted on the rod 12 to pass itthrough the space 32 between the flanges 29-31 to insure completeassembly. If insufficient force is applied, the rod will be rejected bythe chamfered surfaces 33 of the flanges 29-31 and the assembler willhave a loose rod in his hand.

It will be understood that the invention is not to be limited to theexact construction shown and described, but that various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is: r

1. In combination, a pivoted lever member having an ture in the levermember, the connecting device being an integrally molded plasticunithaving a short flat base member with an aperture at one end,

a substantially cylindrical retention means projecting from theapertured end of the base member and having a bore therethrough axiallyaligned with the base member aperture,

the cylindrical retention means comprising a reduced shank portionhaving a diameter complementary to the lever member aperture and acompressible tapered shoulder portion slightly larger in cross sectionalarea than the shank portion,

the tapered shoulder portion being compressible to a size at which itwill pass through the lever member aperture,

the shoulder portion upon projecting through the lever member apertureexpanding to prevent disconnection of the connection device and levermember,

the base member having spaced upstanding side walls adapted to receivethe long leg of the L- shaped actuating rod therebetween,

the side walls having opposed retention flanges hav ing a spacetherebetween less than the thickness of the actuating rod whereby thelong leg of the L- shaped rod must be forced between the retentionflanges as its short leg is inserted into the cylindrical means bore,and a non-circular formed section on the long leg of the actuating rodengageable with-the retention flanges inhibiting separation of theactuating rod from the connecting device. 2. In the combination, as setforth in claim 1, in which:

the non-circular formed section comprises a flat surface across the topof the long leg of the actuating rod. 3. In the combination, as setforth in claim 1, in which:

the non-circular formed section comprises a shallow elongated V-shapeddepression. 4. In the combination, as set forth in claim 1, in which:

the non-circular formed section comprises an elongated depression havinga concave crosssection.

1. In combination, a pivoted lever member having an aperture at one end,an elongated substantially L-shaped actuating rod for swinging the levermember in a predetermined plane, and a connecting device for couplingthe actuating rod to the apertured end of the lever member, the long legof the L-shaped actuating rod substantially paralleling the plane ofswinging movement of the lever member and the short leg of the L-shapedactuating rod projecting through the aperture in the lever member, theconnecting device being an integrally molded plastic unit having a shortflat base member with an aperture at one end, a substantiallycylindrical retention means projecting from the apertured end of thebase member and having a bore therethrough axially aligned with the basemember aperture, the cylindrical retention means comprising a reducedshank portion having a diameter complementary to the lever memberaperture and a compressible tapered shoulder portion slightly larger incross sectional area than the shank portion, the tapered shoulderportion being compressible to a size at which it will pass through thelever member aperture, the shoulder portion upon projecting through thelever member aperture expanding to prevent disconnection of theconnection device and lever member, the base member having spacedupstanding side walls adapted to receive the long leg of the L-shapedactuating rod therebetween, the side walls having opposed retentionflanges having a space therebetween less than the thickness of theactuating rod whereby the long leg of the L-shaped rod must be forcedbetween the retention flanges as its short leg is inserted into thecylindrical means bore, and a non-circular formed section on the longleg of the actuating rod engageable with the retention flangesinhibiting separation of the actuating rod from the connecting device.2. In the combination, as set forth in claim 1, in which: thenon-circular formed section comprises a flat surface across the top ofthe long leg of the actuating rod.
 3. In the combination, as set forthin claim 1, in which: the non-circular formed section comprises ashallow elongated V-shaped depression.
 4. In the combination, as setforth in claim 1, in which: the non-circular formed section comprises anelongated depression having a concave cross section.